Constitution Empowers Congress to Tap American ‘Pirates’ to Fight Cartels

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Americans could soon hold letters from President Donald Trump empowering them to attack violent gangs and drug cartels in pirate ships and by the border if Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) can persuade Congress to grant letters of marque and reprisal, he explained to Alex Marlow on Monday.

The Constitution authorizes Congress in Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” as Lee set forth his plan on The Alex Marlow Show, sandwiched between Congress’s power to declare war and its power to make rules for capturing America’s enemies.

Congress can grant such letters, which would be signed by the president, who presumably would also include whatever regulations and conditions are necessary to effectively supervise these activities in what would otherwise become the Wild Wild West.

Imagine that, while bands of American cowboys with shotguns, AR-15s, and pistols are patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border, with bands of former Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, Force Recon Marines, and Air Force Combat Controllers who are bored with their civilian jobs moving unseen in search of foreign hostile actors.

These letters are “a tool that allows Congress to designate a particular enemy or a problem zone to authorize what are called privateers – essentially pirates operating with the permission of the United States government,” Lee explained.

If this sounds like it could be a Sylvester Stallone movie or the next installment of the John Wick series, then you are envisioning this in the right way. Think Pirates of the Caribbean, but with Jack Sparrow holding a piece of paper signed by President Trump empowering him to attack the other ship and seize its chests of gold and jewels.

In an era of asymmetric threats by non-state actors, Congress’s giving tens of millions of military and law enforcement veterans and tens of millions more who are proficient in weapons the right to participate in protecting their communities and their nation might merit consideration, given that the Constitution explicitly provides that option to elected leaders.

Welcome aboard Mike Lee’s pirate ship. Adventure awaits.